Now in Abu Dhabi,
on the west coast of Wales, Nikki's giving kite bugging ago. Well, it's certainly windy enough.
Wales coastline is full of contrasts, from jagged cliffs to long sandy beaches,
like the ones around Abu Dhabi. The town lies within the Snowdonia National Park near the
Dhabi estuary, an exposed landscape which has attracted people trying to harness the power
of the wind for centuries. If this wind mill is anything to go by, today we have the perfect
conditions for a sport that's completely reliant on the wind. Kite bugging became popular in America
during the 1970s, but its popularity has steadily grown. It's similar to sailing in that you harness
the wind to move yourself from A to B, be that on the sand or in the air. If I'm honest, I wish it
wasn't quite so windy. Here to show me the ropes is Lisa Smith from Coast Riders. We've got an
awful lot of wind here today. How fast can these buggies go when we've got a day like this? The
sort of records have been going up to like 70 miles an hour, but we won't be doing that today,
don't worry. 70 miles an hour? Well, I don't think I'll be quite as good as these guys,
but practice makes perfect, so it's time for my first lesson, starting with launching the kite.
How big is this kite? Is this a beginner's kite? Perfect for a novice. Two and a half meters,
so it's a nice good steady kite, so I've sort of trained the kite, but ideal for wind conditions
like this today because it's super stable. So it's not going to take me somewhere over there?
I would hope not. Fingers crossed. What we need to do is we're going to stand up
and we're going to launch the kite. I'm just going to get into position. We're going to give
her the thumbs up to let go. She's going to let go. I'll do that. And then we're going to just
nicely steer that up into the sky. And there you go. Lovely and smooth. Fantastic. Well done.
When you feel comfortable, bring yourself alongside to the buggy. Best things to do is
not to hesitate, just to go for it. Straight in down. There you go, done. Feet on the pedals.
Just steer the buggy. You operate it with your feet. So if you want to, turn left, you push with
the right foot. If you want to go right, you push with the left foot. So just keep that kite nice
and still at 12 o'clock. Okay? And I'm with you, don't worry. Are you pushing me? I'm not, no.
Are you sure you're not pushing me? Fantastic. No, look.
I could really feel the power in the kite. In fact,
it felt like I was about to take off. I didn't need a bigger kite today,
just waits to keep me from leaving the ground.
A one day course like this started around 110 pounds, including equipment hire,
but the wind's not guaranteed.
Well, I don't think I got that buggy going much faster than walking pace,
and that certainly seemed quick enough for me. But in the right hands,
the buggies can do a whole lot more. And I'm off to meet a British champion
who can show me just what they can do.
Karen Cartilage from Denbighshire was Britain's first ever female kite buggy champion.
For her, these windy days turn a plain old beach into the perfect kite bugging playground.
Tell me how you got into it, because it's not a sport that you see people doing too much,
is it? No, we got our first kite as a wedding present to ourselves,
and we flew that for about six months. And then my husband's birthday was coming up.
So the year before, we'd gone go-karting or paintballing, things like that.
I thought I'd get my kite buggy lesson. So we had one lesson, and by the evening,
there was a kite buggy set in the middle of our living room, and developed from there, really.
And we've seen you out on the beach this afternoon doing tricks and all kinds of
fancy things on the buggies. What is it about it that you really enjoy?
Is there an adrenaline rush? What's the attraction?
For me, I don't think it is the adrenaline rush. I think for me, it's my head yoga.
I mean, the beach is beautiful. I live near the coast.
I could just forget everything for that time that I'm on the beach.
Do you think of it as an extreme sport or an adrenaline sport?
No, it's my passion. It's my life. That's it. It's just something I absolutely love doing.
It might take me a while to be able to do tricks like this,
and although it's a pretty thrilling sport, I'm happy just to sit in this stunning location
and watch how it's done for now.
